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Religious Right Divides Its Vote at Summit

Rudolph W. Giuliani sought the support of Christian conservatives at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.Credit
Andrew Councill for The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 — After an earnest appeal for acceptance from Rudolph W. Giuliani, Christian conservatives ended their two-day summit here Saturday still divided about which of the Republican presidential candidates to marshal their collective might behind.

Mitt Romney edged out Mike Huckabee in the straw poll at the Values Voter Summit. But questions were raised about the way the voting was conducted — votes were permitted to be cast online as far back as August — and even top leaders said there did not appear to be any consensus.

“I don’t think the question is anywhere close to settled,” said Gary L. Bauer, an influential Christian conservative leader and former Republican candidate himself in 2000. “I think it’s going to play out over the next several months.”

Out of 5,775 votes cast, Mr. Romney won 27.6 percent; Mr. Huckabee, 27.1 percent; Ron Paul, 15 percent; Fred D. Thompson, 9.8 percent. Mr. Giuliani finished second to last, with less than 2 percent of the vote, and Senator John McCain of Arizona finished last among the nine candidates.

The Romney campaign trumpeted the victory, but there was only a smattering of applause in the auditorium when his name was announced and the event’s organizers cautioned against his deriving any kind of mandate from the results. Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, delivered an address Friday laden with policy commitments, but he faces continued skepticism about his Mormon faith, which he addressed only in passing in his speech. He has also been criticized for his relatively recent conversion to an abortion opponent.

The 2,500 attendees of the summit will now return to their churches and grass-roots organizations to weigh their choices. It is clear many are charged up about Mr. Huckabee, and there is at least some support for Mr. Romney and others, but many questions still remain.

Whatever the outcome of the weekend, Mr. Giuliani’s appearance was one of the most anticipated moments of the campaign. Like past presidential candidates who addressed their harshest critics with direct talk, he had the potential to create a signature moment for his campaign by strolling directly into the maw of the religious conservative movement.

Of all the candidates who appeared, Mr. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, had the most to overcome, considering his support for abortion rights and gay rights and scrutiny about his personal life. Yet, like other candidates who spoke, he drew a standing ovation from the crowd after his speech in which he invoked Christian inclusiveness, common values and his personal faith. He issued a litany of promises meant to convey that he would not be their enemy if elected president.

He was followed to the podium a short while later by Mr. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a Baptist minister, who drew repeated boisterous standing ovations. Mr. Huckabee’s speech, full of his trademark quips, adept use of Bible stories and red-meat declarations about faith and values, had the feel at times of a Pentecostal tent revival.

Mr. Giuliani spoke for about 40 minutes, twice his allotted time. The response was gracious and even warm, despite his own acknowledgment that members of the audience probably had serious differences with him. Nevertheless, he highlighted his willingness to be forthright and cast himself as more principled than his primary opponents, insisting he would not bend and sway to the political winds.

Mr. Giuliani took a thinly veiled shot at his rival, Mr. Romney, whose campaign has been vigorously courting social conservatives but has battled skepticism about his authenticity.

“Isn’t it better that I tell you what I really believe, instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?” Mr. Giuliani asked, drawing murmurs of approval and applause from the audience.

Mr. Giuliani talked about his Roman Catholic upbringing, attendance of parochial schools and even how he flirted with entering the seminary. (“I know that’s hard to believe,” he joked.) He admitted to being private about his faith because of the way he was raised but said his reliance on God for guidance was at the “core of who I am.” He did not mention that he does not regularly attend church anymore.

Mr. Giuliani spoke with a tone of humility, saying, “I come to you today as I would if I were your president, with an open mind and an open heart, and all I ask is that you do the same.

“Please know this,” he added. “You have absolutely nothing to fear from me.”

Mr. Giuliani peppered the latter half of his speech with assurances that he would work to reduce abortion and increase adoptions, to ensure that religion is not banished from the public square, to appoint judges who are “conscientious in their role of interpreting the law, not creating the law,” and even to protect school choice, an important issue among many evangelicals.

“I’ll continue to extend my hand to you,” he concluded, “and I hope you’ll take it.”

After his speech, even some of his critics said his performance may have moved some Christian conservatives to soften their opposition to him, at least in the general election, and maybe even drawn some to support his bid for the Republican nomination. But the true impact of the moment will likely be known only after the activists gathered here return home to consider their choices.

“I give him an A-plus on his speech,” said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an Ohio group. But, Mr. Burress added, “These are deep voters. They’re going to dig deeper than just appearance.”

As for Mr. Huckabee, he faced high odds in his own right. With less than three months left until the first votes are cast, he has been struggling to prove his electability. Many conservative leaders, agonizing over whether it is realistic to unite around him, fret about his ability to compete in all 50 states against Mr. Giuliani. His campaign received a boost this summer, when he placed second in the Iowa straw poll, behind Mr. Romney, but his fund-raising has continued to lag and he remains in the single digits in national polls.

The results of the straw poll in many ways only added to the confusion within the movement. Anyone who is a member of Family Research Council Action, one of the groups organizing the summit, could vote. Joining the group only requires a $1 donation. Mr. Romney’s campaign, as well as others, has been actively encouraging people to vote online. And about 3,500 new people have joined the organization, on top of the existing 5,000 members, in the last few months. Out of the 2,500 attendees of the summit, only 952 out of 5,775 overall actually cast votes in person. But almost 600 of those who attended had already voted online.

Of the votes cast in person, Mr. Huckabee was the runaway winner with over 50 percent of the vote, trailed badly by Mr. Romney with 10 percent.

In the overall voting, Mr. Paul, a congressman from Texas, finished a surprising third, which event organizers attributed in large part to his online following. Mr. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, finished fourth.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, whose legislative arm was one of the summit’s organizers, said Mr. Huckabee deserves to claim a boost from the event. “I think he comes out of here clearly as a favorite and a winner out of the straw poll,” Mr. Perkins said.

A cluster of influential Christian conservative leaders were to meet this weekend to discuss whether they can unite behind one candidate. Most predict that they will not be able to agree and will be “released” to act according to their own consciences.

When Mr. Giuliani announced his presidential run this year, many dismissed his chances of winning the Republican nomination because of his liberal views on social issues and his messy personal life. He has been twice divorced and is estranged from his two children.

He has led for months in national polls, prompting growing alarm among Christian conservative leaders whose followers are a powerful voting bloc in the party. Several dozen evangelical leaders met recently in Salt Lake City and vowed to support a third-party candidate if Mr. Giuliani were to win the nomination.

But Rick Scarborough, an influential conservative leader who heads the group Vision America, said Mr. Giuliani may have succeeded in defusing that possibility with his strong performance Saturday. “He might have derailed the effort to a third party today,” Mr. Scarborough said. But he added that he would still do all he could to “prevent him from getting the nomination.”

There have been signs of growing unease in the movement anyway about the third-party possibility, with many contending that it will ensure the election of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is leading in national polls among the Democratic contenders.